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As I've gotten older, and after many, many years of almost nothing but GW games, I've grown somewhat tired of what GW has to offer.

I still love the games, and especially the background, but I want something else...

I'd love to get going with some Weird War II stuff.

Either Darkson's AE-WWII and/or West Wind's Secrets of the Third Reich.

Maybe PULP-CITY too?

Perhaps INFINITY?

The problem is...

No one else seems to want to do so as well.

In my area, I see maybe:

75% GW (40k and WFB, and that is probably 75% 40k and 25% WFB)
15% Warmachine
8% FOW
2% Other

Is this something that rings true across the country?

Across the world?

Are we truly living in the Age of the GW Hobby.

Or, you know, The End Times?

Personally,I think WWII was way too awful for me to have fun playing it as a game. It's the sci-fi and fantasy settings of my various gaming activities that allow me to indulge my non-peacenik side.

Er, OK.

I guess that could be holding some people back?

But that isn't really what I was after, I don't think...

The popularity of FOW kind of goes against that a bit.

I can put in a hearty recommendation for Darkson AE-WWII.

I think it depends on where you look. If you look in the Historicals crowd, you'll find people who are interested in the pulpy offshoots of that genre (.45 adventure, AE WWII, GASLIGHT/VSF, etc.). If the store doesn't tend to cater to historicals players, it's going to be more focused on GW, PP, Rackham, and the flavor of the month. But if you find a store that has a greater diversity of players, you should be able to find all kinds of stuff.

BTW: people might be more interested if they didn't have to start out with their own figures. Perhaps you'd be willing to demo the game for them? This might not be too great a strain on your budget, especially with a game like AE, as it's skirmish based and requires, what, 5-ish figs per side? Talk to your FLGS and see if they have an online forum, newsletter, etc. and are willing to advertise you running AE on the 12th of never or what have you. You might get a few people interested that way. And really, you were going to paint up two factions anyway, weren't you?

Ha!

Yes, I was going to paint up at least 2 factions for each game anyway...

I think I had already decided that I would have to take the lead on being the Demo Guy for these games, but, that isn't all that bad a thing to "have" to do!

I think thats the trend everywhere although most of guys who play 40K also do warmachine and hordes. We've got a huge historical gameing community who play DBA and FOW like its going out of fashion. Ive also recently gotten sucked into historical because ive stoped playing 40K the reason being is because the guys who normaly play have huge armies for just about every army in the game and have no prob letting people play games with their stuff, as long as there still there that is.

Greenville South Carolina?

I lived there for a while, and they have a great game store there, Borderlands.

(At least, I hope it is still there! It was in 2006...)

I own every miniature game under the sun.

I can find opponents for about five of them.

WFB, 40k and Epic are three of those.

Alpharius wrote:Greenville South Carolina?

I lived there for a while, and they have a great game store there, Borderlands.

(At least, I hope it is still there! It was in 2006...)

Borderlands is still there and they have the biggest following of FoW around. I game in Augusta, Comics, Games, and Books maybe uve been there, because its closer to where i live. Alot of our FoW guys go there for FoW turnies and special events ive been there once and that was earlier this year.

In my area, for wargaming:
55% Warmachine
30% GW
10% Historicals(including FoW)
5% Others

PP beating out GW?

Where is your area?

Yeah; that sounds more like 'my gaming store'...

I know lots of stores that sell primarily PP miniatures as far as unpainted stuff goes... but since the local store that ran organized play closed down no one is really doing anything with it.

I think that the WWII games will always have a place and will stand the test-of-time better than any other genre. You might need to do a bit of searching to locate the opponents, but once you do you'll be set. The historical gamers can often be a completely different type and set of people that the Sci-Fi/Fantasy gamers. You might just be looking in the wrong place.

Infinity looks cool, but I never see people playing it. Couldn't tell you why other than it's lack of visibility-on-the-table when I'm at a gaming store.

Many games have their own sets of forums these days. Not to direct anyone away from Dakka of course, but using the company forums is probably a good place to find local opponents. I know that Infinity, Flames of War, and Privateer all have their own. I imagine that others do as well.

As far as the local popular games go. GW is still at the top I think, but Flames of War and Field of Glory (Ancient battles) have really been popular. PP has fallen lately, but not because of popularity as far as I can tell. I think it's more of a scheduling thing.

Alpharius: I've been gaming at Borderlands more or less for about 10 years. I'm very happy to confirm that it is still there and doing well. I don't know WHAT I would do without it. Probably take up farming. I'd have to say that it echos roughly the magnitudes you mentioned OP. There is ebb and flow, such as whenever hordesmachine is holding a league. I've seen it for months on end where you couldn't get a 40k game for all the Hordesmachine. These days Greenville is a hotspot for all things gaming. Historicals, Rackham, GW, PP, board games; whatever your poison you can get it there.
Wherebouts are you these days?

BattleTech's still kicking around, and growing bigger all the time with new releases hitting shelves at a faster rate than ever before, and miniature production kicked up to 11.

BYE

Alpharius wrote:PP beating out GW?

Where is your area?

Baton Rouge, LA

How about some of the alternate skirmish games? Wild West, Pirates and there's 40mm skirmish games that are gaining momentum (AWI and Napoleonics).

grizgrin wrote:Alpharius: I've been gaming at Borderlands more or less for about 10 years. I'm very happy to confirm that it is still there and doing well. I don't know WHAT I would do without it. Probably take up farming. I'd have to say that it echos roughly the magnitudes you mentioned OP. There is ebb and flow, such as whenever hordesmachine is holding a league. I've seen it for months on end where you couldn't get a 40k game for all the Hordesmachine. These days Greenville is a hotspot for all things gaming. Historicals, Rackham, GW, PP, board games; whatever your poison you can get it there.
Wherebouts are you these days?

Well if you live around that area then you must have heard or been to the Siege of Augusta. Its one of the only gameing conventions around here, unless of course you drive to Atlanta. I cordinate and run events around the CSRA, mostly RTT, im also siting on the board for this years Siege. Here's a link to the wbsite.
http://www.siegeofaugusta.com/cgi/index.php
We,ve been expanding to encompass other minature games besides historical.

Maybe I should start looking at the "Historical Groups" in my area.

In the past, they have been rather snobbish about incorporating any and all "fantasy/sci-fi" elements of games, but now, who knows?

A good idea - thanks!

Play Infinity and be happy.

I wish!

No Infinity players/groups in my area, that I know of.

So, as of right now, I'm going to have to blaze a trail for:

1) Secrets of the Third Reich
2) Infinity
3) Pulp City

All this, and the only game store in my area just closed down last month, breaking a streak of almost 20 years where we had one here.

Not good times, not at all...

Join the trend around the CSRA we had 4 stores last year.......now we have two, both owned by the same guy, the good news for him is that since the otehr two stores have closed his profits have gone way up.

I think GW has such a strong foot hold on the gaming market that it requires a lot of money to compete and a lot of time to gain market share. The best bet for someone to compete against GW is if a non miniature gaming company bought one of these successful other games and gave it more support.

So for now it is GW world.

...its sad to see gaming stores die. *moment of silence*

I started writing rules for a wargame about fifteen years ago just as something else to do with my 40K figs, since I was bored with it. Since then, the fluff has taken on a life of its own and the game now no longer resembles 40K at all. Unfortunately, I don't have a billion dollars to spend on promotion or GW would be in a fetal position under a table right now! See the proposed rules thread "Streamlining apocalypse play" for an idea of what I've been up to.

Net work!
Start a fan site like yahoo then go to every forum you can sign up and let people know you around.
I just started a AT-43 yahoo group cause I didnt have anyone to play two months after we started 45 members have signed on and started meeting once a month to play I now have 5 guys that have armies that I didnt even know and are not to far if I need a gaming fix. Its all about networking by the fans its a bit of work and the LGS sure hasn't that kind of time thought they should make it but time is their enemy!
advertising your group on many official and club forums can take up a huge amount of time but the best part is its free and you'll make new friends with your same interests...cheers

I don't believe GW has any kind of stranglehold, they just Market well because they have the cash to do so.

Any gaming group needs a "leader" who will introduce new games to people and play them instead of just buying into what everyone else is playing. What good is having free gaming time unless you are enjoying it? I'm not enjoying my gaming time if I'm playing a game I don't dig.

We've been playing alot of Spinespur lately because the group I play with loves the Horror gaming aspect. We also play Wargods of Aegyptus for our fantasy fix. Both games are less about arguing rules semantics IMHO, and more about having fun playing the bloody game.

I also like supporting games inside my country, especially when the US economy is looking so bleak for the common man at the moment.

Ooh, just have to put a push in for Two Hour Wargames here. Chain Reaction is good times for skirmish combat and FREE! So you can use your currrent figs (WH40K, Infinity, whatever) and people don't have to buy anything! Nutz! is the WW2 ruleset based off the same core mechanics and there is also a sci-fi ruleset. Zombies is the awesome for a fun game (don't have to get the Zombies rules, CR 2.0 has ruled for zeds built in, as well as Bugs!).

Certainly historical war gaming is just as big as GW. Urban War or Metropolis is well worth a look. Its not historical however the miniatures are fantastic and I have heard a lot of positive things about the games.

Around 50% of my local gaming club play Urban War.

Alpharius wrote:As I've gotten older, and after many, many years of almost nothing but GW games, I've grown somewhat tired of what GW has to offer.

I still love the games, and especially the background, but I want something else...

I'd love to get going with some Weird War II stuff.


Is this something that rings true across the country?

Across the world?

Are we truly living in the Age of the GW Hobby.

Or, you know, The End Times?

From what I know of the UK, they seem to have much more progressive clubs than the US. So what do I mean about "Progressive?" They seem much more interested in minis gaming as a hobby, than having mini's gaming defined by one company's vision. They enjoy digesting new games, even ones that would seem "unfinished or "unprofessional" than most US gamers. They take pride in knowing several systems and actually seek new systems out.

Perhaps their "clubs" are not defined by one game system, I don't know that seems to be the case. I think that approach should be fostered in the US. It makes for better gamers and a more healthy industry. Right now folks have the attitude that "If I buy X amount of product from one company, I can't possibly take the time to play another game!" Much less try to appreciate whyothers may find another game "fun." No system is perfect -- learning how systems affect gameplay makes everyone a better gamer.

I once was in an RPG club in the 80's that had this attitude - the club's purpose was to expand the hobby, learn and teach new games. It went from 6 to 50+ people in three years. I moved away and the club's focus shifted to just creating a space for ongoing games, and within two years it was dead.

I don't want GW to fail. I honestly wish them the best of luck. I don't think they have to fail for other games to succeed. I do wish that GW and PP and FoW folks would do more to promote the hobby IN GENERAL.